The arrival of the double cohort, with its own challenges; the consistent increase in the number of calls to the communications centre (nearly 75,000 in 2002); as well as the frequency of certain types of crime on campus led Protection Services to re-evaluate the current intervention model.
The Service opted for a model centred on the source of the problems and the best approach to solving them. It is a model focused on conflict resolution. It draws its vitality from the creative imagination of patrol officers and transforms the community into an unending resource. The model is anchored on 20 years of research in policies and police intervention. Many police forces have adopted this model including the City of Ottawa.
Ideally, the model allows the Service to assign protection officers to key sectors on campus in order to identify and analyze problems, evaluate the repercussions of these problems on campus, and finally initiate a strategy in co-operation with key individuals in the community with the goal of reducing the particular criminal activity on campus.
The Geographic Information System (GIS) is one technological tool that is helping maximize the efficiency of the new model. Protection services hired a geography student in the fall of 2002, Yannick Lanthier, to implement GIS for the Service.
GIS offers several advantages. It allows the Service to quickly pinpoint locations where crimes are happening on campus. It can also be used to create communication tools that sensitize people to be aware of their personal security. The Parking Office can also use GIS, for example, by quickly identifying which lots see the most infractions. In turn, appropriate long-term solutions could be found in response to client needs.
When it comes to emergencies the GIS allows the Service to save easily accessible critical information about each building. It is equally useful in determining the best possible location for surveillance cameras or emergency phones. In terms of operations management, GIS allows a better deployment of human resources.
GIS applications are not limited to criminal analysis. This tool is also used by municipal governments for urban planning, environmental assessments and a host of other possible applications.
The University of Ottawa Protection Services is the first in Ontario – and perhaps in Canada – to use GIS in this way. The Service recently submitted their intervention model and use of GIS to the general assembly of the Ontario Association of College and University Security Administrators (OACUSA) and will be doing the same next June at the annual conference of the Association of College Law Enforcement Administrators. (IACLEA).
